Friday, March 16, 2007

Beer O’Clock – Invercargill Pitch Black

Beer tidings on St Patrick's Eve from a grumpy beer correspondent, Neil from Real Beer -- it may be something to do with Scotland's loss to Ireland in last week's Six Nations...

I cannot continue to deny the self-evident truth that Saint Patrick’s Day is almost upon us once again.

It may surprise some, but it is not my favourite day of the year – not even close. In my opinion, Saint Patrick’s Day is now too much like New Year’s Eve – everything feels a bit forced. There are too many people in the bars, drinks are expensive and everyone seems grimly determined to “have a good time” even if that means waiting twenty minutes for a green Guinness while watching a drunk bureaucrat sit on your two-dollar top hat. [Clearly the man has been going to the wrong venues - Ed.]

I’m going out on a limb here, but that is not my idea of a good time or a suitable way to celebrate Irish culture. I’d rather sit in an over-sized armchair with a pint of Guinness and a snifter of Tullamore Dew reading from the works of Oscar Wilde. Instead of hordes of drunken revellers yelling at each other over yet another version of “Dirty Old Town,” I could listen to an album by the Pogues. (Did you know you can actually tell how late in the day every Pogues track was recorded by how hammered Sean MacGowen sounds?)

So, on Saint Patrick’s Day Eve, I’m not to talk Guinness but I am going to talk stout. Normally I leave the stouts and porters to my good friend Stu. Stu just loves beers you can eat with a spoon, particularly if they are so dark their gravitational field threatens to pull your eyeballs out.

Uncommonly, the darkest beer in the range is the Invercargill Brewery’s best seller. The brewery has recently moved to new premises in “central city” Invercargill as brewer Steve Nally had to expand production to meet demand. It’s much nicer than his old cow shed brewery.

Easily mistaken at first glance for a good strong coffee, Pitch Black Stout is a deeply black beer with a coffee-coloured collar of foam. Smelling like a piece of well toasted Vogel’s bread next to a chocolate, this beer is rich, sumptuous and finishes clean.